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Jena 6

2007-10-04
	Jena approves race relations panel JENA (AP) -- Jena's mayor will appoint an interracial committee to study race relations and how they might be improved in the small central Louisiana town where a civil rights march drew 20,000 people from around the country. "We felt this was a positive move," Councilman Tommy Sandifer said after the city council voted 5-0 Wednesday for Mayor Murphy McMillin's proposal. "This has been birthed out of the Jena Six situation."


2007-10-03
	Professor: Jena 6 revives rights interest NEW ORLEANS — The peaceful demonstration that drew about 20,000 people to Jena last month in support of six black teenagers accused of beating a white high school student “resurrected’’ the civil rights movement, a Southern University at New Orleans professor said Tuesday.


2007-10-02
	Our View: Lost lesson of Jena rally Jena was an unparalleled success as a piece of national nostalgia.


2007-09-29
	Jena 6 case 'is not over' WASHINGTON — National civil-rights leaders said Friday that they will seek a meeting with President Bush if the U.S. Justice Department fails to enforce what they consider federal hate crimes in the Jena 6 case in Louisiana.


2007-09-28
	Mychal Bell released on bail in Jena 6 case JENA — Mychal Bell walked out of the LaSalle Parish Courthouse into freedom Thursday after being jailed for 10 months for the December beating of a white Jena High School student.


2007-09-27
	Mychal Bell of the Jena 6 has been released on $45,000 bond. JENA — Mychal Bell of the Jena 6 has been released. Bell’s family and friends were waiting at the La Salle Parish Courthouse for Bell, one of the Jena 6, after bail was posted today by a Lafayette company. The bond was $45,000, said bondsman Darlene Garrison Narcisse of Cut-Rate Bail Bonding. Dr. Stephen Ayers, a medical doctor with offices in Baton Rouge, Lafayette and Lake Charles, posted $5,400 of the $45,000 bond, the required 12 percent. Narcisse called it a “good Samaritan thing to do.”


	Jena 6 tensions cool Gov. Kathleen Blanco said late Wednesday that LaSalle Parish District Attorney Reed Walters has agreed to try Jena 6 defendant Mychal Bell as a juvenile in a case that is credited with reigniting the civil-rights movement.


	Blanco speaks following Sharpton meeting Gov. Kathleen Blanco spoke Wednesday evening following her meeting with Rev. Al Sharpton, a meeting that concerned the controversy surrounding the so-called Jena 6.


2007-09-26
	Blanco: DA won’t challenge ruling on Jena 6 teen Blanco announces Bell case to be tried in juvenile court. (AP) -- Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco met Wednesday with the Rev. Al Sharpton to discuss six black teenagers - known as the "Jena 6" - who were initially charged with attempted second-degree murder after a white classmate was beaten. Sharpton arrived at the Capitol to discuss a variety of issues surrounding the case, which last week sparked one of the biggest civil rights demonstrations in years. More than 20,000 people converged on the small town of Jena to protest the case, and Sharpton said more protests may occur if Mychal Bell - the only teen convicted so far - is not released quickly.


2007-09-23
	Judge denies bond for one of Jena 6 JENA — A judge refused Friday to release Mychal Bell from jail the day after as many as 20,000 people poured into this small central Louisiana town to support Bell and five other black Jena High School students accused of the December beating of a white classmate.


2007-09-22
	Internet plays role in Jena rally With international attention focused on Jena, many are crediting the Internet for spreading the word. On Friday many across the capital city turned to cyberspace for post-rally news and comments from Thursday's events in Jena.


2007-09-21
	Thousands rally to support Jena 6 Before the sun rose over Jena on Thursday, scores of buses from as far away as Illinois and Georgia rolled into town delivering thousands of people to a rally for six black teenagers charged with beating a fellow white student in December. People filed off the buses carrying coolers and protest signs, sometimes with children in tow, and headed to the LaSalle Parish Courthouse on First Street or to the Ward 10 Recreational District park — the meeting points for two rallies. Within a short time it was wall-to-wall people standing in front of the courthouse chanting, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere” and “We want justice now.”


	Jena 6 support rally draws 2,500 in D.C. About 2,500 men, women and children supporting the Jena 6, black teenagers initially arrested on attempted murder counts in the beating of a white teen, gathered in the nation’s capital Thursday at a park outside the U.S. Senate.


	Residents concerned over protest Here in Louisiana people are discussing the stigma Thursday's protest in Jena could leave on the state. The country is focused once again on Louisiana, and those that spoke to News 2 wondered if the protest will be a negative blow to the state and to the South in general.


	Thousands rally in Jena, Alexandria Thousands crowded the streets of Jena on Thursday to rally support for six black teenagers accused of beating a white classmate. The crowds, dressed in black, converged on the small town for a march, and a rally was also held in Alexandria.


2007-09-20
	State Police officer reports Jena rally and march were 'uneventful' Louisiana State Police estimate the crowd of protestors that converged on the tiny town of Jena in north Louisiana today to be between 15,000 and 20,000, said Lt. Lawrence McLeary of State Police headquarters in Baton Rouge. “There were no incidents and no arrests during the rally and march,” McLeary said Thursday. “It was uneventful.”


	Nation's focus turns to Jena The nation's focus was on Jena Thursday as people from across the country traveled to the Louisiana town for the scheduled rally.


	Thousands rally in La. for Jena 6 JENA, La. (AP) -- Thousands of chanting demonstrators filled the streets of this little Louisiana town Thursday in a massive show of support for six black teenagers initially charged with attempted murder in the beating of a white classmate. Throngs of black-clad protesters jammed the grounds of the local courthouse and a nearby park while thousands more marched along city streets in what at times took on the atmosphere of a giant festival - with people setting up tables of food and some dancing to the beat of a man playing a drum.


	Racial tension grips La. town A small Louisiana town is gripped by racial tension after six black high schoolers are charged with beating a white classmate. AP correspondent Jason Bronis reports from Jena, La.


	Jena rally set for Thursday Thursday's rally in Jena was initially set to coincide with the sentencing for Michael Bell, who was convicted of aggravated second-degree battery, but that decision was overturned last week. The rally is still scheduled to go on, and many in Jena are wondering if it will have an effect on race relations.


2007-09-19
	DA issues statement on Jena situation District Attorney Reed Walters spoke publicly for the first time Wednesday since filing charges 10 months ago against six black Jena High School students. This is a prepared statement he read in front of the LaSalle Parish courthouse.


	Jena 6 defense gets assist from rocker NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- David Bowie has donated $10,000 to a legal defense fund for six black teens charged in an alleged attack on a white classmate in the tiny central Louisiana town of Jena. The British rocker's donation to the Jena Six Legal Defense Fund was announced by the NAACP as thousands of protesters were expected to march through Jena on Thursday in defense of Mychal Bell and five other teens. The group has become known as the Jena Six.


	Jena getting ready for massive crowd expected at march NEW ORLEANS — With tens of thousands of protesters expected to march through a tiny central Louisiana town Thursday in defense of six black teenagers, Jena police and residents were busy Tuesday making plans. Estimates range as high as 60,000 marchers for the two-mile trek, which originally was to protest the conviction of Mychal Bell on second-degree battery charges.


	Georgia students head south to support ‘Jena 6’ ATLANTA — About 200 students marched from the Atlanta University Center campus to Centennial Olympic Park on Tuesday in support of the six black high-school students accused of attacking a white student in Louisiana. The crowd of young people, mostly from Morehouse College, Spelman College and Clark Atlanta University, held signs reading, “Stop the racist prosecution of the Jena 6,” and chanted slogans such as, “Until the Six are free, neither are we!”


2007-09-18
	From Baton Rouge to Jena From Southern University students to members of the Presbyterian and Unitarian churches, Baton Rouge residents are lining up in support of the ‘Jena 6.’


	Some Jena businesses to close for Thursday's rally JENA, La. (AP) -- Some business owners say they plan to shut down Thursday, when thousands of protesters are expected in this town of 2,900 to support six black high-school students accused of attacking a white student. Tina Norris, who owns a downtown cafe blocks from the site of a planned rally, said she's going to "lock up, go home and stay out of the way." She is thinking of boarding up the large plate-glass windows at Cafe Martin.


	Jena Six rally just days away A massive rally in Jena to support six accused teenagers is scheduled to take place on Thursday. Thousands are expected to attend the rally, including students from Southern and LSU, in what has become a nationwide movement to have the charges against the teens dropped.


2007-09-15
	Appeal court overturns conviction in `Jena 6' case NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- A state appeals court Friday tossed out the aggravated battery conviction that could have sent a black teenager to prison for 15 years in last year's beating of a white classmate in the racially tense north Louisiana town of Jena. Mychal Bell, who was 16 at the time of the December beating, should not have been tried as an adult on the battery charge, the state Third Circuit Court of Appeal in Lake Charles said in a five-sentence, three-paragraph ruling. Bell is one of six black Jena High School students charged in an attack on fellow student Justin Barker, and one of five originally charged as adults with attempted second-degree murder.